This article is part of our College Basketball Picks series.
The Madness is here! It's finally here! I love the way the NCAA has set up the postseason tournaments with the NIT and 1st Round play-in games filling the void between Selection Sunday and the first full day of the tournament on Thursday. I picked out a winner yesterday with Vanderbilt and I'm excited to get a chance to cover today's action. Let's see what we have!
Oklahoma St. at Youngstown St.
Due to an arena conflict, the overall No. 1 seed in the NIT is traveling to Youngstown, OH. However, I don't see that being a huge factor in this game. To me, this is all about the conferences. Okie State did indeed wilt down the stretch in the meat grinder that is the Big 12 schedule after senior leader Avery Anderson went down. The Cowboys can struggle to score, but Y-State does not play a lot of defense and hasn't seen a team like OSU all year. In fact, the Penguins haven't played against a KenPom top-100 team the entire season, much less a team that should come out fired up after narrowly missing the tournament. The Cowboys tough defense and athletic superiority will be enough to overwhelm Youngstown, regardless of venue.
College Basketball Best Bet: Oklahoma St. -5.5 (universal)
Arizona St vs 
Nevada
Nevada is a team that had treated me well for 90 percent of the year.Then, late-February came, and the true Steve Alford we all know and love started to show. His squad lost three straight to lower-rated competition in all manners of ways and locations (home, road, neutral) on its way to limping into the tournament as the last team in. The Sun Devils used their miraculous win at Arizona to get into the Big Dance, a berth likely cemented by avenging their loss to USC in the regular season finale. ASU has an impressive resume, including neutral wins over VCU, Michigan and USC, to go with the road win in Tucson. Nevada has... none of that. I think we see a focused and motivated ASU squad take care of business tonight in Dayton.
College Basketball Best Bet: Arizona St. -2 (@ PointsBet)
Utah Valley at 
New Mexico
This is my favorite play of the day. UVU is a covering machine, coming into tonight with 24-9 ATS mark on the season. Since the Wolverines got their feet under them in December, they have fared very well against top-100 competition, with wins at BYU and Oregon, and a blowout of Sam Houston State at home. After a very strong start to the season, the Lobos have come crashing down, finishing out the year on a 4-9 skid. UVU is 8-2 ATS in its last 10 overall, 10-2 ATS in its last 12 on the road, and 13-3 in its last 16 games against teams with winning records. Mark Madsen gets his guys ready to play, and I think they will win this one outright (but we'll happily take all those points).
College Basketball Best Bet: Utah Valley +5.5 (universal)
Wednesday College Basketball Best Bets:
Here's a recap of my best college basketball bets for Wednesday:
- Oklahoma St. -5.5 (universal)
- Arizona St. -2 (@ PointsBet)
- Utah Valley +5.5 (universal)
For up-to-date information on the latest college basketball odds and props from multiple sportsbooks, check out the College Basketball odds page on RotoWire.
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